The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team fired its fifth shutout of the summer and used a six-run inning to down Japan 7-0 in Wilmington on Tuesday to claim the International Friendship series.
With a 1-0 lead after six innings of play, the red, white and blue put up a crooked number on the scoreboard with a six-run seventh innings to put the game out of reach.
Four different pitchers combined to throw the shutout as California State Fullerton sophomore Justin Garza picked up the victory with five innings pitched. The righty allowed four hits and struck out four, while teammate and classmate Thomas Eshelman tossed two scoreless innings in relief. Tyler Jay (Illinois) and Ryan Burr (Arizona State) closed it out with an inning apiece in the eighth and ninth.
Florida State’s D.J. Stewart went 1-for-3 with a double, RBI and run scored, and Tate Matheny (Missouri State) went 3-for-4 with a pair of runs batted in. Bryan Reynolds (Vanderbilt) also added a pinch hit two RBI, extra-base hit as Team USA finished with eight hits on the night.
With the win, Team USA wrapped up its summer tour across the state of North Carolina and heads overseas for the next three weeks before closing out the season with a three-game friendship series in Havana, Cuba. The USA Collegiate Team will spend July 11-20 in the Netherlands for games against Holland, Japan and Chinese Tapei.
For more information on the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, log onto www.usabaseball.com.
